Motivational story about working with weaknesses

I got this story from one of my awesome youth!  Love it...it's worth posting on my blog, it's that good :).
 
A few years ago, a Japanese teenager lost his arm in a car crash that killed his mother.  He was involved in a prestigious Martial Arts group at the time. Shortly after the crash, the Sensei of this "Prestigious"  group dismissed him because of this injury. He was crushed, he had loved his martial arts, now it seemed his career was over. His loving father, seeing that he was depressed, found an old retired Sensei that would be willing to teach him.
     This Sensei taught the young man one move, and had him practice it over, and over, and over. The young man questioned his father "why is it, that this old man has only taught me this one move? And why does he insist on me learning it so well? I will never be great! I will never show my potential if I never learn other moves!" His father told him, that even though he was learning only this one move, he had a wise master, who knew what he was doing. So, this young man continued to take his martial arts from this old Sensei. A few months later, he asked the Sensei "why is it, that you have only taught me this one move? And why do you insist on me learning it so well? I will never be great! I will never show my potential if I never learn other moves!"
      His Sensei smiled. "Some things are not for us to know right now, or soon, sometimes we must trust in the wisdom of those that have gone before us. This move is all you will ever need."
     So, he continued on with his training, always practicing his one move, and hoping that his master was right. Soon the national martial arts competition would come, and this young man found that his Sensei had recommended him to the competition, and he had been accepted, he was thrilled! Now was his chance to learn something else, surely his master would agree, if he was going to compete, he would have to know something else.  He asked, his master responded "Trust, I know what is best for you, This move is all you will ever need."
     He continued to practice his move, trusting in his Sensei's wisdom. It seemed impossible that he would ever gain the championship he had always desired, with only one arm, and only one move, he felt that he could not do it.
     The competition came, he was placed in the ring, the buzzer sounded, and the match was on, he waited, waiting for the moment he could use his move. It came. he used his move, and had his opponent pinned, he had won his first match of the championship, with one arm. He continued in the competition, winning every time, with his one move, his move. It came to the semi-finals, then to the finals. He asked his Sensei one last time if he would teach him one last move, his Sensei responded.
    "This is the only move you will ever need" With that he pushed the young man toward the ring. He stepped in, blood pulsing though his stressed out veins. This was it, honor or disgrace. The buzzer sounded. he could feel the bruises forming on his face and body. He waited, and waited. Then the opening came! he pulled his move, his opponent pinned. He, a one armed young man, had one the Championship with one move.  He asked his Sensei, "Why is it that I could win with only one arm? And why was it this move let me beat the best of the best in all of Japan?"
     His Sensei chuckled, "The only way to stop that move, is to grab the left arm."
Ether 12:27 27 And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them.

I love this story.  It reminds me of the cracked-pot story that I love, and reminds me that God can work with anyone to do miracles :)!

My "covering of eternity"

I have learned a few things about myself amidst the tender mercies of the week.

As we were heading into town one day last week, I felt out of sorts, uncomfortable, unsettled...whiney.  My darling husband asked if I had anything I wanted to talk about, asked if something was the matter.  As I talked to him, not sure myself what the problem was, the mess that was in my head became more unravelled and clear.

So, tender mercy number 1: a husband who cares and persists in finding out what is the problem.

While talking to him, I was able to see that a large part of my uneasiness has been a little lack of predictability in my life...

...you think?

Let's see...a few moves in the past year, the realization that renting can be a nightmare depending upon your landlord (which makes our situation here feel unstable still), a different culture, a new baby...

Now, I am a creature of habit and comfort.  I can have many children, knowing that I have a system, a pattern of life, activities and rituals that work  (more or less :)..) to help meet the many needs and demands of all of us.  In our house back in the states, before all this transition started, I knew I would wake up on Monday, be able to plan the week for the most part, and know that things would more or less work out.  I could look ahead and figure that those Mondays would be pretty much the same for the rest of a given year.  I knew that by 9 in the morning, the house would be more or less put together and we could start on a school day.  I love that predictability!  Yes, we would have a crazy Saturday or weekend or week, but things more or less fell into a pattern.

Here?  No way!  I am still trying to make sure we have food from one week to the next, not able to currently depend upon my recovering body to make sure that there is food for my children and husband to eat.  So I am feeling a little out-of-sorts with a lack of consistency.

My dear friend Lynda warned me of this feeling of being displaced.  She told me that she always cried for the first month or two in a new place as she moved around with her military husband.  I appreciate her viewpoint, knowing that this, too, will pass.

However, it has made me think about the need that I have for patterns, for routine.  I like to know more or less what to expect, or at least that I have a chance at meeting the basic needs of my large family.  I have, I think, learned to roll with many of the punches that come with having 10 (now 11) unique sets of personalities and needs under one roof.  Yet, here I am.  "They" say: "the only thing constant about life is change."  But is it?

Second tender mercy: daily scripture study...and a Heavenly Father who knows when I will be reading what, when that daily scripture study doesn't happen :).

The next morning, after having this theraputic conversation with my hubby, I read in the Book of Abraham about Abraham's experiences in his early life: father who wanted to ritual sacrifice him, friends being sacrificed, move after move...not even knowing where he would land.  Talk about unpredictability and being out of your comfort zone!  And he went to lands where he knew not the language as well...lands where they even would kill him to marry his beautiful wife!

I read the following scripture...Abraham's comments after the Lord instructed him to move a second time due to the wickedness around him.  He could have whined, complained that if God knew they were going to be wicked in that place, why did God have him move there?  But no, these are his words:
Abraham 2:16: Therefore, ^aeternity was our covering and our ^brock and our salvation, as we journeyed from Haran by the way of ^cJershon, to come to the land of Canaan.

"Eternity was our covering and our rock and our salvation."  Now, I am sure "eternity" could mean many things--I don't claim to be a scriptorian.   However, it struck me that Abraham saw beyond the frustration of his transitory existence, living in tents and moving about.  He clung to the covenants, the eternal covenants God had made with him in the verses above that--the Abrahamic covenant.

It made me think about what eternal things in my life will never change, that will always remain constant, uncontrolled by anyone, but my choices:

-I can be forgiven and find inner peace
-Families are eternal in nature
-I will go home to live with God after this life
-Jesus Christ is my Savior, has suffered, and will always know how to succor me
-I will always be a mom
-God always, always knows what is going to happen, and He loves me, and knows what is best for me: whether it be a life of relative peace and contentment, or a life like Corrie Ten Boom in a concentration camp

It gave me a great sense of security, of constancy...

I can have my "covering of eternity" give me my comfort zone,even in times of great transition.